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Gaming laptops proved to be a big focal point in Computex 2021, for Nvidia, but in particular for AMD, reflecting the huge growth in the sector over the last year. Up until now, although AMD have excelled in the budget and mid-range laptop spaces, thanks to their great APUs (i.e. CPUs with onboard graphics) their higher-end gaming-focused machines have not matched up to those powered with the laptop versions of Nvidia’s GPUs.
The first part of AMD’s challenge to the green team in the laptop space was the announcement of the new 6000M series of laptop GPUs from AMD, aiming to take on GPUs 30-series mobile graphics cards. Besides this though, there are numerous other areas in which AMD have sought to improve their offering for gaming laptops.
Secondly, as part of their ‘AMD Advantage design framework’, the Red team has sought to squeeze as much performance as possible through efficiencies in fully AMD kitted out gaming laptops (Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs) – from FPS in games, to improved battery life, cooling, reduced fan sound, and even performance on low battery. The AMD Advantage designation basically ensures that any laptop it comes with should meet a certain overall standard of performance and build quality.
There were three points focused on in the keynote, listed below.
Amplified Performance
AMD’s various ‘Smart Technologies’ are the source of much of these advantages – Smart Access Memory will now feature on these laptops, which as we’ve seen can bring FPS boosts in certain games by allowing the CPU to access surplus GPU memory, and AMD Smartshift technology enables the system to shift power between the CPU and the GPU where it’s most needed – advantageous in laptop design where power is limited.
Premium Displays
In terms of displays, AMD aren’t really bringing anything new to the table here, but they did make a commitment to all of their AMD Advantage laptops having 144Hz+ displays with LFC, ‘low latency’ (what this means in actual ms we don’t know), FreeSync, 300 NITS+ brightness, IPS and OLED panels, and 100% sRGB or 72% NTSC color gamuts. This hopefully points to an increase in the base standard of gaming laptops across all manufacturers in the near future.
Built To Game
AMD committed that every one of their Advantage systems will come equipped with at least one NVMe PCIe gen 3.0 4x lane SSD, which they claim can be up to three times faster in loading times than a SATA III SSD.
Reducing temperatures on the keyboard when you play, often something that suffers under high-performance machines, was also touched on – with a focus on keeping temperatures below 40C on the WASD keys specifically.
Finally, AMD said they have worked hard to bring an expected battery life when ‘binge watching’ (i.e. viewing Netflix, YouTube, and the like) to over 10 hours. If they can deliver on these claims then this will be a welcome change compared to some of the more demanding Nvidia 30-series machines, most of which struggle to achieve above 5 hours in such scenarios.
The Laptops
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The two laptops that AMD announced which would feature this technology were the ROG Strix G15, which it said would be released in early June and the HP Omen 16, that would be available soon. You can read more about the features of these laptops in our respective pieces on each.
Final Word
More competition in the gaming laptop space between Intel, AMD, and Nvidia can only mean further innovations and hopefully bigger savings for the end consumer, which, given the very high pricing of most gaming laptops, is something we welcome with open arms.
We look forward to getting our hands on these latest AMD laptops and seeing whether they match the hype. Stay tuned to WePC to find out!
Gaming laptop reviewer, tech specialist, lifelong gamer, cantankerous wordsmith. A big fan of writing and laptops, Aaron is the in-house laptop and gaming laptop expert, dabbles in the world of tablets and keyboards, and also serves as a Senior Editor on the team, using his eye for detail to make sure our review content is up to scratch. Summary From halcyon days playing Sonic 2 on the Megadrive, to trying to work out how to make the 'TOASTY!' man appear on Mortal Kombat 3, many of Aaron’s fondest childhood memories are associated with gaming. He regrets nothing. First getting into PC gaming through exposure to Drug Lord 2.0 and then the original Half Life, he has been a fiend ever since. The only thing Aaron loves more than history, gaming, laptops, and writing is finding a good deal, so look out for his laptop deals pages this year. Experience With jobs ranging from working the tills in a bookies to running administration at a political think tank in Westminster, plus a stint in investment management, Aaron has had a varied career. What has remained constant however has been his eagerness to learn new things, his ability to do in-depth research, his eye for detail, and his talent for editing (words and video). All of these skills he utilises in his job - making sure the consumer has the very best idea as to whether a laptop is worth their time and money, and working hard to ensure no detail is missed in his in-depth reviews. Education Investment Management Certificate MA Filmmaking BA History A Levels: Biology, Chemistry, Medieval History AS Levels: Psychology, Philosophy
